1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to a sheet feeding device that separates and supplies recording media stacked in a sheet feeding portion, one by one, from the uppermost position in an image forming apparatus such as a laser beam printer, a copier, a facsimile device, or the like.
2. Description of Related Art
In a sheet feeding device disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,584,475, an uppermost sheet of paper, among sheets of paper stacked and stored in a sheet feeding cassette, is sandwiched between a sheet feeding roller and a separation pad to separate the sheet from the stack and send the sheet forward in a sheet feeding direction. However, in a conventional sheet feeding device, such as that disclosed above, when a sheet of paper is sandwiched between a sheet feeding roller and a separation pad and sent forward, a paper feeding noise is usually generated. Therefore, in order to reduce the noise, U.S. Pat. No. 5,584,475 discloses a noise erasing portion formed of a material, with a small coefficient of friction, arranged downstream of a surface of the separation pad in a sheet feeding direction.